


Painkiller

by skeletonsinthecloset



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Trans Male Character, im trans AND a mukuro kinnie and im here to represent myself and what i want to see, its MY fic and I get to choose the dysphoria coping headcanon, none of that is explicit tho!!, pain-sharing soulmates au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:38:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22013974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeletonsinthecloset/pseuds/skeletonsinthecloset
Summary: Ikuzono pain-sharing soulmates AU. Please heed the tags, thank you.Inspired by: Metanoia by The_Northern_Wolf
Relationships: Ikusaba Mukuro/Maizono Sayaka
Comments: 3
Kudos: 42





	Painkiller

**Author's Note:**

> uhh i wrote this so i could give y'all something while i tried to figure out what to do with Obstruction of Justice bc out of all my planned fics that was the worst one to take on first. i might just orphan the current version and come back to the concept when i feel like i'm ready to. which,,, might be never since i'm not super into kaemaki anymore sdjfidjfi (i still like it, i just discovered tenkaede and now thats my main kaede ship, so maybe expect something with that in the near future)

Most people in the world had a soulmate.

Sayaka Maizono was no exception. She could always feel the vague presence in the back of her mind, get little bits and pieces of feelings that weren't her own. Sometimes her soulmate, would get hurt, but it was nothing serious. Just little bumps and scrapes here and there. They were small children after all, they were bound to end up hurting themselves at some point. 

By the time she was eight years old, Sayaka had started feeling more pain from her soulmate's side of the connection than she should. It felt like they were being beaten to a pulp, and she tried as hard as she could to bear as much of it as possible, to not leave her soulmate alone with whatever was happening to them. They seemed to return the favor, alleviating the ache in her muscles every night from her endless practicing to achieve her dream of becoming an idol. But she still felt a vague frustration, an emotion very much not her own whenever she took part of her soulmate's pain. 

They felt bad, she realized. They felt like she was doing so much for them, but they couldn't repay her. She didn't know how she suddenly knew that, she just...did. She sighed to herself, wishing they were here so she could tell them that they didn't need to worry, she was alright just knowing she was helping. 

When she was nine years old, Sayaka started wondering what her soulmate looked like. Were they a boy or a girl? Were they tall or short, light or dark, skinny or fat, etc.? It's not like any of that really mattered, she thought, she'd just like to know. Wouldn't anyone? She'd be able to picture them in her head better if she knew what they looked like, after all, picture the person she was destined to spend the rest of her life with. Her perfect match. 

She'd always found the concept of soulmates comforting. No matter what happens, there's someone out there who will love her unconditionally. Who will stay by her side and sooth her pain. And with her increasingly absent father, she needs that someone more than ever.

As Sayaka got older, the pain increased from her soulmate's side of the bond. It had become instinct to take it, to not let her soulmate suffer any more than they already have. Until she turned eleven, and it suddenly stopped. Not entirely, there were still spots of minor pain here and there, but the intense agony of what was seeming more and more to have been from beatings had disappeared. She didn't know how or why, but words could not describe the relief she felt, knowing her soulmate was safe. 

When Sayaka was twelve years old, she finally accomplished her lifelong dream of becoming an idol.

It didn't feel real at first, with the man who was to be her manager shaking her hand and telling her she made it, but the excitement finally set in after she went home to pack her things. The group was going on tour soon, and she wanted to be ready. After packing the few belongings she did have, she left her childhood home for good, without a word to her father.

The first year or so went great, and it seemed like something was happening on her soulmate's end, though she wasn't exactly sure what it was. Sometime in the evening or late afternoon, she could feel an ache in their chest. She thought they could have just gotten hit with something, but the ache persisted. Even when the rest of their body was sore from what she assumed was some kind of exercise, as that was how she felt after running and dancing around a stage all day, the pain in their chest still stood out.

One day she was onstage with her idol group, rehearsing as always, when she felt an intense, sharp pain in her soulmate's chest. She automatically relieved them of the pain, shouldering it herself. Whatever was causing all that soreness seemed to have finally come to a head, she thought to herself as she nearly fell to her knees. They probably broke a rib or something. 

After a few weeks of spotty, dull soreness, her soulmate seemed to be back to normal. There was still the usual workout aches, (she was almost sure that was what they were at this point) but the pain in their chest had gone away, and Sayaka felt immensely relieved.

It didn't last long.

When Sayaka was thirteen years old, she had the worst experience of her life.

Her manager had called her into his office. He'd told her to come alone, and make sure no one saw her. An incredibly suspicious request, but she complied anyways, because he'd been the one who'd built her up, and he could tear her right back down. Besides, he was her manager, he cared about her, right?

Well, not in the way she thought he did.

All she felt was overwhelming _f__ear_ when he looked at her with hungry eyes, when he yanked her close, too close, and said that if she ever told a soul she was done for, when he forcibly bent her over his desk and held her down while he-

It hurt. It hurt so bad, but only for a moment. She felt a spike of worry from her soulmate before all her pain disappeared. She should have felt better, happy that she couldn't feel the certainly agonizing pain, but all she felt was shame and horror deep in her gut. That her soulmate, who'd already suffered so much, was taking every last bit of her pain away, was taking this pain that was meant for _her._

When she finally met her soulmate, she swore to herself that she would shower them in as much love and affection that she could muster. 

This continued for the next two years, and her wonderful soulmate would take it every time. Now the script was flipped, and it was Sayaka that felt like she couldn't possibly repay what they were doing for her. All she had to work with was their normal muscle ache (though even that seemed to be dying down) and a swirling depth of negative emotions, fear being the most prominent. She wondered what they were up to that was causing them this much emotional turmoil. 

When Sayaka was fifteen years old, she was accepted into Hope's Peak Academy. 

It was yet another dream come true, though she hoped that this one went much better than the last. 

She liked her classmates, and she was surprised to see Makoto Naegi again after they went to junior high together, but she always found herself strangely drawn to one of them in particular, and she didn't have the faintest idea why.

The Ultimate Solider, Mukuro Ikusaba, tended to keep to himself. He didn't interact with the class much, excluding Makoto, who seemed to be the only person willing to talk to him in the first place. But something in her mind kept trying to push her towards him, and after a week or two of putting up with it she finally gave in.

She tried talking to him in class, and found out quite quickly that he was _very_ awkward, but a part of her found it endearing, almost cute in a way. She ended up chatting with him more and more, and learned that while he preferred not to say much, (which was really a shame, she'd love to hear more of his soft, almost timid voice) he was a very good listener, and against all kinds of odds, she felt comfortable talking to him. 

They'd considered each other friends for most of the year when she finally put the pieces together. 

They'd been walking home together one summer evening, when she'd tripped and fallen, swearing under her breath as the concrete bit into the skin on her legs, and when she looked up, she saw him flinch slightly as one of his fists clenched, right as her pain disappeared, and everything came together.

She stood up on suddenly shaky legs and grabbed his arms for support, looking him right in the eyes.

"Was...was that you?" She asked, feeling lighter than air.

There was a slight pause before he nodded, and there was no way to describe how she felt in that moment. It was like someone had taken all her anxieties and put them in a blender with the greatest joy she's ever felt in her life.

"That- that means, for the last two years, you've..." She couldn't muster up the nerve to finish the sentence. Her hands were shaking terribly, and she felt his move up to hold them between his own, and even through his gloves she could feel how warm his palms were. 

He nodded again. "And when we were kids, you did the same for me." He said, and she could see the tears welling up in his blue-grey eyes, just as she could feel her own tears spilling over her cheeks as she laughed in an odd mix of disbelief and joy, throwing her arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug, which he didn't hesitate to return. 

Sayaka couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this happy. 


End file.
